Venetian blind fitting for engaging ladder-tape loops



H. K. LORENTZEN 2,831,536

Apr-i122, 195s VENETIAN BLIND FITTING FOR ENGAGING LADDER-TAPE LOOPS Filed Aug. 6, 1954 FIG. 3

INVENTOR HANS K. LORENTZE'N BY 5 mms United States PatentO 1 vnNnrtAN BLIND FITTING FOR ENGAGING LADDER-TAPE LOOPS Hans K. Lorentzen, Montclair, N. J., assignor to Lorentzen Hardware Mfg. Corp., New York, N. Y., a corporation of New York This invention relates to a sheet-metal fitting for male l in g a load-sustaining connection to the looped ends of the vertical branches of a ladder tape of a Venetian blind.

In certain of its aspects the invention is applicable to connections between the looped ends of the vertical branches of a ladder tape and any other part of a Venetian blind to which the ladder tape is to be attached. The invention is, however, particularly applicable to a tape drum for mounting on the tilt rod of a Venetian blind and making a load-sustaining connection to the looped upper ends of the vertical branches ofa ladder tape; and the invention will be disclosed in that connection. Such a tape drumisdiscloscd in U. S. Patent 2,589,846.

It is now customary to attach the looped ends of the vertical branches of a ladder tape to another part of a Venetian blind by means of a fitting having arms on which the loops are impaled. While such fittings are known which are satisfactory in various respects, the prior-art fittings entail certain disadvantages and limita tions, including one or more of (a) slowness and awkwardness in impaling the loops on the arms and removing them therefrom, (b) lack of support of the loop throughout its entire width, (c) liability to puckering and tearing of the loop when the tape is made of a material that has little body, and (d) inadequaterigidity and strength of the arms to sustain the very heavy loads that are imposed thereon when a blind is allowed to fall freelyto fully extended position, i h

Among the objects of the present invention are to provide a fitting which overcomes the foregoing difficulties, toprovide a fitting in which the loops may be impaled upon the arms by movement which is both simple and facile, to provide a fitting in which the loops may be facilely removed from the arms, to provide an improved fitting in which the loops are supported throughout their width and are not subjectto puckering and tearing, and to provide such a sheet-metal fitting which can be manufactured on a quantity-production basis, rapidly, reliably and inexpensively.

Further objects, and objects relatingto details and economies of construction, operation, and use will more i definitely appear from the detailed description to follow.

My invention is clearly defined in the appended claims. In the claims, as well as in the description, parts may at times be identified by specific names forclarity and. convenience, but such nomenclature is to be understood as having the broadest meaning consistent with the context and with the concept of my invention as distinguished from the pertinentprior art. Thebestmodc in which I have contemplated carrying out my invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings forming part of this specification, in which: p h

Fig. l is an incomplete view in perspective of a Venetian blind of the enclosed-head type, a portion of the head channel and a portion of one of the tilt-rod-supporting cradles being broken away to reveal the tape rocker.

-;Fig. 2* is a view in perspective, on a larger scale, show the metal at the edge of the blank being folded downing the tape rocker and certain associated parts that ap pear in Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a view in plan of the tape rocker per se and a fragment of the tilt rod upon which it is mounted, the scale of the view being approximately the same as in Fig. 2. i

Fig. 4 is a view in vertical section through the tape rocker and tilt rod, the section being taken along the line l-l in Fig. 3 and being on asomewhat larger scale.

Fig. 5 is an end elevation of the tape rocker looking from the right of Fig. 3, the tilt rod on which the rocker is mounted being shown in vertical section, the view illustrating the operation by which the ladder tape loop is attached to the rocker. as Fig. 4. p t

Referring to Fig. l, the general organization of an enclosed-head Venetian blind in fully extended position is shown, a vertical section of the blind being broken out. A head channel 10 contains the operating mechanism of the blind. A pair of tilt-rod cradles 11 (a fragment of one being shown) are secured within the channel 10 adjacent the respective tape rockers 14, the cradles rotatably supporting the tilt rod 12 upon which the tape rockers are mounted. As is conventional, a pair of ladder tapes having vertical branches 15 are suspended from the respective tape rockers, passing through slots in the bottom of the head channel 10. The slats 16 are supported upon the rungs (not shown) of the ladder tapes, and the bottom bar 13 is attached to the lower ends of the ladder tapes. The blind is raised (collapsed) by pulling dowm wardly on the branches 17 of the lift cord, and is tilted by pulling one or the other of the tilt-cord branches 19 to oscillate the tilt rod, and thus the, tape rockers, through the medium of a tilter mechanism not shown. The Venetian blind organization described in thisparagraph is now well known.

The tape rocker 1 of the present invention may have a body portion and-tilt-rod-engaging means similar to those shown in Nelson Patent No. 2,5 89,846. The rocker is made of stamped and bent sheet steel and has a drumlike part-cylindrical body 20 from which there extend, at opposite ends of the body, transversely disposed tilt-rodengaging arms 22. and 2.4. As in the above Nelson patent, arms 22 and 24 are provided with openings having-flat sides 25 which are misaligned and out of phase when the rocker is relaxed and unmounted on the tilt rod 1.2. The

rocker, which is resilient, is mounted on the tilt rod by being constricted to bring the openings 25 in the two arms into substantial alignment and phase, after which the rocker may he slid onto the tilt rod with the flats 25 in engagement with the fiatted surface 26 on the tilt rod. When the rocker is released, after having been mounted in the correct position longitudinally of the rod, the resilience of the rocker body causes the arms 22 and to grip the rod and retain the rocker stably in place.

The inclined portions 21 of the rocker, which are sub stantially fiat, are each provided at their free longitudinal edges with a loop-receiving finger 27 extending longitudinally of the rocker throughout substantially the ,entire width thereof. As shown in Figs. 1 and 2, the fingers 2 have alength which somewhat exceeds the width of the tape branches l5. their free ends 32 he at opposite ends of the rocker lid, the fingers being triangular in plan and tapering inwardly from their rocker-attached ends. Adjacent to each finger is a generally triangular longitudinally-extending slot 29.

The upper portion 31 of each finger 27 is made of a double thickness of metal for a distance which somewhat exceeds the width of the ladder tape branch. .As more clearly shown in Figs. 2 and 4, this is accomplished by The view is to the same scale The fingers 27 are so disposed that or rocker-attached end of each finger is reinforced by an L-shaped reinforcing bead or corrugation 35 pressed thereinto.

As shown, each inclined portion 21 of the rocker, at the base of the triangular slot 29, is provided with an endpiece 36 which extends peripherally of the rocker part way to the free end of the adjacent finger 27, leaving a passage between it and the finger which readily admits the tape loop as the loop is passed onto the finger. 1ntegral with the end of each portion 36 there is an L- shaped loop retainer 37, which extends outwardly of the rocker body and then parallel to the adjacent finger 27. This loop retainer 37 overlies the broad end of the slot 29.

Preparatory to mounting the ladder tape on the rocker 14, loops 39 are formed at the upper ends of the branches 15 thereof by folding the branch ends and securing them with staples 4%}. Assuming that the other parts of the blind have been assembled, the thus formed loops are passed upwardly through the slots in the bottom of the head channel and are then threaded on the respective fingers 27 of the rocker in the manner illustrated in Fig. 5, righthand side. With the tape branch held anywhere within the angle CAB (Fig. 5) it meets no obstruction as it is moved to telescope the loop onto the finger 27. Thus, the operator may readily thread the loop onto the finger with one substantially continuous lateral movement. The total length of the finger is such that, as the telescoping of the loop onto the finger is completed, the trailing edge of the tape branch may readily be swung beyond the free end of the retainer 37 and nested beneath the retainer, as shown in Fig. 2 and at the left in Fig. 5.

The retainer 37 is in such position that the operator may thus readily see when the tape loop is properly mounted on the finger and secured in place. The provision of the smooth, bight-forrned edge on finger 2'7 facilitates the sliding of the loop onto the finger and the introduction of the tape beneath the retainer 3'7. "he loop of the ladder tape may readily be removed from the finger by an operation which is essentially the reverse of that set out above, requiring only the swinging of the tape toward the root of the finger so as to clear the free end of retainer 37, the elevation of the tape and the loop end into a plane lying above the retainer, and the lateral retraction of the loop in a direction away from the root of the finger.

Because the portion 32 at the free end of each finger 27 lies substantially flush with the folded edge of the finger, the tape loop may be readily telescoped onto the finger, and readily removed therefrom. The disposition of the two fingers so that their free ends lie at opposite ends of the rocker tends to maintain the loops on the two ladder tape branches stably on the rocker even without the loop retainers, since the two tape branches are connected by the ladder rungs and thus tend to hang vertical and parallel under the weight of the slats and the customary bottom bar, and since neither loop can slide onto its finger beyond the root of such finger. Travel of one tape loop toward the free end of its finger would cause the loop on the other branch of the ladder tape to engage the root of its finger. Thus, each tape loop with its supporting finger 27, under normal operating conditions, tends to prevent dislodgement of the other tape loop from its finger. The fingers 27, under normal conditions of use of the blind, are not flexed downwardly to .a perceptible degree, because of the stiffening L-shaped corrugationat their roots and the strengthening afforded by the doubled, loop-engaging edge 31. There are occasions, however, when the tape rockers of the blind are momentarily subjected to a greatly excess load, as when the slats and bottom bar of a Venetian blind are allowed to drop freely from fully raised to fully extended position. Under a sufiicient overload of this sort, the fingers 27 of the tape rockers will momentarily flex downwardly, progressively from their roots, in the direction of the pull on the loops until the free ends of the fingers strike the confronting ends 36 or the loop retainer 37 of the body of the rocker, which parts of the'body are in substantial alignment with the free ends of the fingers. Such body portions prevent any substantial bending of the fingers beyond their elastic limit, and thereby guard against failure which might result in falling of the assembly of tapes, slats, and bottom bar.

I claim:

1. In a sheet-metal fitting for making a load-sustaining connection to the looped ends of the vertical branches of a ladder tape of a Venetian blind, the fitting having arms on which the loops are impaled, each arm being formed of sheet metal of the fitting and extending along an edge zone of the fitting, each arm having one end rigidly attached to the body of the fitting and the remainder of the arm free, and each arm being flat and one of its edges being a bight-engaging edge which engages the bight of the loop impaled thereon; the improvement which comprises: each arm being of generally triangular form, the base of the triangle being attached to the body of the fitting and the remainder of the triangle being free, and the sheet metal of the arm being folded back against itself along the bight-engaging edge of the arm.

2. Afitting as in claim 1 in which the body of the fitting is provided with means, aligned with and spaced from the apexes of the triangles, for limiting fiexure of the arms under loads imposed by the tape branches.

3. In a sheet-metal tape drum for mounting on the tilt rod of a Venetian blind and making a load-sustaining connection to the looped upper ends of the vertical branches of a ladder tape, the drum having at its top confronting terminal edges adjacent to each of which are arm means on which the tape loops are impaled and from which the tape branches extend in opposite directions outwardly-and-downwardly around the drum; the improvement which comprises: the arm means adjacent to each terminal edge of the drum being a single arm composed of sheet metal integral with the drum, the arm being of triangular form and extending for substantially the full length of the drum, the base of the triangle being attached ,to the drum and the remainder of the triangle being free, and the sheet metal of the arm being folded over and backupon itself along a line of fold which is the terminal edge of the drum.

4. In a sheet-metal tape drum for mounting .on the tilt rod of a Venetian blind and making a load-sustaining connection to the looped upper ends of the vertical branches vof ,a ladder tape, the drum having at its :top confrontingterminal edges adjacent to each of which are arm means on which the tape loops are impaled and from which the tape branches extend in opposite directions outwardly-and-downwardly around the drum; the improvement which comprises: the arm means adjacent to each terminal edge of the drum being a single arm composed of sheet metal integral with the drum, the arm extending for substantially the full length of the drum, one end of the arm being attached to the drum and the remainder of the arm being free, and the sheet metal of the arm being folded over and back upon itself along a line of fold which is the terminal edge of the drum; and means on the drum, aligned with and spaced from the free ends of the arms, for limiting flexure of the arms.

under loads imposed by the vertical branches of the tape. 5. A tape drum as in claim 4 in which the drum is provided with retainers for engaging the tape branches and preventing them from accidentially shifting in a direction tending to remove the loops from the arms, the retainers being adjacent to the surface of the drum and out of line with the tape branches when the branches are held elevated from the surface of the drum for telescoping movement of the tape loops with respect to the arms.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Schaefer Oct. 24, 1950 Charbonneau May 15, 1951 Schaefer Nov. 20, 1951 Nelson Mar. 18, 1952 Wright Sept. 15, 1953 

